A sessions court in Bengaluru convicted eight persons for assaulting Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials, who were carrying out a drive to remove illegal flex banners, earlier in August.

The court has sentenced each of the eight persons to two years in jail along with a fine of Rs 5,000 each.

On August 2, a group of men brutally attacked BBMP workers and officials who were on a hoarding removal drive in Bengaluru’s Ramamurthy Nagar. BBMP officials had swung into action after the Karnataka High Court had reprimanded the BBMP for laxity in handling the issue of illegal banners and buntings in the city.

The High Court had also directed the sessions court to conduct a speedy trial and had set the date of completion to August 31.

BK Nagesh Murthy, of the 10th ACMM court, pronounced the eight accused as guilty under IPC Section 332 (causing hurt to deterring public servant from duty). The accused were held guilty under several other IPC sections and under Section 3 of the Karnataka Open Places Prevention of Disfigurement Act, 1981.

The eight convicts include S Santhosh alias Santhosh Reddy, K Sharavanan, Edward Williams, Rajendran, Simmons, Kamalnath, Surya and Mallikarjun PG.

The trial began on August 14 and proceedings went late into the night on several days in order to meet the High Court’s deadline, TOI reported.

On August 2, the Karnataka High Court, while hearing a petition to bring down illegal flex banners had ordered BBMP officials to remove all illegal hoardings within a week. The BBMP had removed about 5,000 hoardings in a day. It was during one of these drives that the attack took place.